This observation
is a distillation of my Seven Levels of Photographers.
I wrote the original around 2000. It's been translated into thirteen
other languages, for a total of fourteen.

The "two
kinds"
applies in every other area of mans' interests: racing, hunting,
sexcapades, fishing, motorcycles, bird watching and you name it.
As we say in racing, "The BS stops when the green flag drops." In
photography, the BS stops when the
portfolios come out. The guys who spend the
most time talking are those who spend the least time doing.

I had an epiphany in
1989. When I searched through over 15 years of my archives dating
from 1973 looking for some of the great shots I knew I must have
made, I found nothing! The good shots only existed in my imagination!
I realized that all I ever did was tell myself that I was a great
photographer just because I knew every nuance of technique and camera
and lens design. I had nothing to show for it. From that point on
I decided to stop worrying about the technology
and focus my considerable expertise and creative instincts
on creating photos instead of reading about it.

WHY
IS THIS?

Those who make
photographs always have more photos to make or editing to do. There
isn't any computer time to waste on forums. When in front of our
computers we would rather create a new image or play with a new tool.
There are an infinite number of tricks to learn on Photoshop to help
us make new images. I never have enough time to work on my computer.
I wish I had more time so I could create, print and share more images.
There is only so much time. We can either talk about something or
go do it.

If I had more
time I would share more of my images
here. I make over 1,000 shots every week on my D200 as
of April 2006.

Creatives usually
have no time for forums. I make the time to do the informative parts
of this website thanks to your help and
the ads.

Too many people
get sucked into wasting creative time reading a zillion comments
from total strangers on forums, discussion groups and chat rooms.
Some people start believing what they read.

A huge problem
with forums is the people who post the most shoot the least.
These forums make it tough to know the credentials of the posters.
More weight is given to well-spoken frequent contributors than
a competent professional who might step in to help. Worse, the crankiest
members of the forum will proceed to heckle the one guy who
knows and tried to help, and then he never returns.

Photographers
tend to be crummy writers. Forums are overloaded with comments from
the people you most want to avoid. Many of these people don't even
own the gear they're discussing; they just like to talk! Not that
all the information is bad, but it is disproportionately weighted
in the wrong direction.

Look
at any forum on any subject from art to zebras, and you'll
see many who spend more time calling each other stupid than discussing
the topic. Many who live in these forums take
more pleasure in hurling
epithets than in discussing the topic. As any high-school
psychology student knows, these guys are confirming Freud's observations
that all human action is based on making oneself feel important.
I prefer to do this by creating bitchin' photos. Forum posters
find it easier to try to look smart by posting as much as they can.
Don't let yourself get distracted by the bickering or people trying
to throw out a lot of information to look smart. Go make photos and
see for yourself what looks good.

Euphemize these
as "forums" or
"online discussions," but they're still just
chat rooms. They're the best places to get the worst information,
since the least educated are the ones who contribute the most. Those
who know the most are too busy making more photos to spend much time
there.

Likewise, the
guy at your office / friend / neighbor who seems the most knowledgeable
because he can talk a blue streak about cameras and digital profiles
is probably the best guy from whom to get the worst information.

CASH
IS KING

Other sites
use forums to make money. See the ads on their forum pages? Those
sites make money by letting you write their content.

Things are
different today. The Internet went commercial. Other sites we all
know were started, like this one, by individuals in the 1990s to
help others share our love of photography. The others were sold by
their former owners and are run today by corporations for profit.
I'm still just me.

People ask
me to add forums. I would do it since it would bring in more money
so I could do more, but I won't do it because it runs contrary to
the whole point of this site. I'm trying to share what I've learned.
If you want to read what other people have to share,
read their sites.

Adding forums
would distract you with all sorts of unqualified garbage, and I'd
have to take too much time away from adding new articles to police
the turkeys who'd cause trouble.

WHY
YOU GET SO MUCH BAD INFORMATION FROM FORUMS

Old-wives-tales float
all over forums because they are repeated so often. This is
why so many people believe things with no basis in fact. Fact is
easy to learn: go make your own photos and experiments and you'll
see. I'm amazed that people will research Raw vs.
JPG for a half
hour on forums, but never bother to take the five minutes
to make two shots on their own camera to see. Another example
of an old wives tale is that UV filters rob sharpness, plastic
zoom lenses aren't sharp or that 16 bit looks any different.
Go shoot for yourself and see. Most of these tales are decades out
of date.

Chatting
for many people is a weird little hobby in itself.

If you want
to get information from these forums, be sure to check out any poster's
images first. If you want to make images like they do, then heed
their help. If their photos suck, then run away!

I'm embarrassed
that I spend as much time as I do making this website. I also spend
a ton of time photographing. You can
see some of my work in my gallery and more recent shots at my travels.
I don't spend much, if any, time adding to my galleries online.

Here's a
funny example of the foolishness of taking advice from strangers online.
In case you're unfamiliar with the art world, the Edward Steichen
photo analyzed second from the bottom sold
for three million dollars in Februray, 2006!

WHAT
ABOUT THE QUIET ONES?

The guys and
girls of whom you've never heard are the ones making all the great
shots. They aren't giving workshops, promoting themselves or being
paraded around by Canon, Nikon, Sony and Epson promoting gear.

The people
whose work I admire the most don't show it, and if they do, usually
have klunky websites at best.

Girls make
better pictures than boys. The girls just do it, while the boys are
talking about who has the best camera. You'd vomit if you saw all
the guys I do paying for workshops who stand around discussing
noise figures of Canon vs. Nikon while the magic 60 seconds of light
passes them over at sunrise in some remote scenic location.

ONE EXPERIMENT IS WORTH A HUNDRED OPINIONS

I learn by
doing. I'm very curious and run experiments to see what happens.
Often I discover something different than what everyone "just knows," especially
with all the old wives tales circulating today.

Truth varies
from the opinions of chat roomers when this happens. 75 chat roomers
will all agree with each other. Too bad they're not always dead on.

SO
DO I CARE WHEN PEOPLE IN SOME FORUM CALL ME AN IDIOT?

Of course not.
As anyone familiar with forums knows, most of them spend most
of their time calling other people stupid.

One of these
days I'll share my resume with you. I haven't bothered so far. I
prefer to let my photos speak for themselves.
I make loads of mistakes and learn by paying attention to them, not
by reading some chat room. Keeping an open mind lets me get smarter.
I still have a lot to learn, but after over 30 years of continuous
experimentation I also have a lot to share.

"If everyone is thinking
alike, then no one is thinking." Ben Franklin.

Genuine experts told us
all that airplanes, telephones and light bulbs wouldn't work, even
after they did. Do you really want to listen to a bunch of anonymous
chit-chatters? I prefer to do my own photo experiments, and you should,
too.

I support my growing family through this website, as crazy as it might seem.

The biggest help is when you use any of these links when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. These places have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.

If you find this
page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may
have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

As this page is copyrighted and formally registered, it is unlawful to make copies, especially in the form of printouts for personal use. If you wish to make a printout for personal use, you are granted one-time permission only if you PayPal me $5.00 per printout or part thereof. Thank you!